John Buchan





John Buchan

Author profile


born
in Perth, Scotland, The United Kingdom
August 26, 1875

died
February 11, 1940

gender
male

website

genre

influences


About this author

John Buchan (1st Baron Tweedsmuir) was a British novelist and public servant who combined a successful career as an author of thrillers, historical novels, histories and biographies with a parallel career in public life. At the time of his death he was Governor-General of Canada.

Buchan was born in Scotland and educated at Glasgow and Oxford Universities. After a brief career in law he went to South Africa in 1902 where he contributed to the reconstruction of the country following the Boer War. His love for South Africa is a recurring theme in his fiction.

On returning to Britain, Buchan built a successful career in publishing with Nelsons and Reuters. During the first world war, he was Director of Information in the British government. He w...more


Average rating: 3.65 · 11,483 ratings · 1,146 reviews · 203 distinct works · Similar authors
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“An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support.”
John Buchan

“He disliked emotion, not because he felt lightly, but because he felt deeply.”
John Buchan

“I am an ordinary sort of fellow, not braver than other people, but I hate to see a good man downed, and that long knife would not be the end of Scudder if I could play the game in his place.”
John Buchan, The 39 Steps

Polls

Who, in your opinion, writes the most attention-keeping, easy-flowing story?

 
  289 votes, 37.8%

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock, of course)
 
  278 votes, 36.4%

 
  117 votes, 15.3%

Baroness Emmuska Orczy (Scarlet Pimpernel)
 
  38 votes, 5.0%

Elizabeth Gaskell (Wives & Daughters, Cranford)
 
  30 votes, 3.9%

John Buchan (Thirty-Nine Steps, Hannay series)
 
  12 votes, 1.6%

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